Holy Hell Week! Can I just take a second and rant about how busy my week was? Ok thanks. FIRST we had a tech event over the span of two days that went from a mere 500 to 3000 people. Yes, that is an extra zero. Being short staffed that means all hands on deck, including pastry and whichever generous friends that came in to give their time to help. SECOND, all the soft openings and media events for our new restaurant means prepping the entire menu, PLUS figure out all the quirks before the dishes go out, AND teach our very very brand new staff how and why and where and every other question you can think of. THIRD, through all that’s going on we still have around 4 events per day at our museum restaurant, which isn’t THAT out of the norm, but it’s enough to add just the right amount of extra pressure. AND FINALLY, to close out the week, an elaborate and amazing wedding of a good friend and one of my executive chefs. Yes, I made the wedding cake.
During the week, I’m pretty sure I’ve eaten maybe 2 actual meals… and each day rolling out of bed heading straight to work.
But it’s finally over! And it actually went as smooth as it could have considering all that went on. Ok, rant over!
We’ve got 4th of July coming up and I’ve been racking my brain trying to come up with the perfect dessert that screams ‘MERICA!
Even though I do like to make cutsie desserts for different holidays, at the end of the day I am really just trying to make something that tastes amazing. For this I usually start with whatever produce is the best at the moment. I picked up some peaches from the farmers market the other day, and even though they’ve not quite reached their peak yet, they’ll be amazing in a pie.
I’m making a peach pie studded with blueberries and hinted with ginger.
Peach pie is a longtime favorite of mine. Growing up, my grandma would make the most amazing peach pies and jam. I loved them so much that for a number of years I would request a peach pie for my birthday instead of a cake.
Ginger Peach & Blueberry Pie
Pie Crust
Butter 8 oz. cold, cubed
Cold water 5-8 T (depending on how dry dough is)
Flour 2 ½ cups
Sugar 1 T
Salt ½ tsp
Ginger Peach & Blueberry Filling
Peaches 6, peeled and sliced
Blueberries ½ cup
Brown sugar ¾ cup
Salt 1 tsp
Ginger 2 tsp
Cornstarch 3 T
Lemon juice 1 T
Egg wash
egg 1
water 1/4 cup
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
To make the pie crust, put all the ingredients except the water in a food processor. Add water as needed, until the dough comes together. Split dough into 2 rounds and cover with plastic wrap.
Chill for 30 minutes.
For the filling:
Peel and slice your peaches. If your peaches are ripe, you can easily peel the peaches by blanching in boiling water, then immediately cooling in an ice bath. The peel should just slide right off. If they’re not quite ripe though, this may not work. In that case, just get a regular ‘ol peeler and peel away.
Put the peaches in a bowl, add the remaining ingredients and fold together until the brown sugar, ginger, and cornstarch is completely combined.
Roll out your pie dough and cover the base of the pie pan. Trim the sides off the edges, and place your filling inside.
Now, take the remaining pie dough and roll out. Take your star cookie cutters and cut out a few of each size and place randomly over pie.
To make egg wash, whisk together the egg and water in a small bowl. Brush over the entire top of the crust.
Chill pie for 20 minutes before baking.
This pie will take about 2 hours to bake. I make a little border with some aluminum foil and place it around the edge of my pies for the first hour of the bake. This way, the edges of the pie crust won’t burn while the center of the pie is still cooking.
Cool, slice, and party! Happy 4th of July!
Ginger Peach and Blueberry Pie
Peach pie with blueberries and ginger!
Ingredients
Crust
- 8 oz cold butter
- 5-8 Tbsp cold water
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
Ginger Peach Blueberry Filling
- 6 peaches, peeled and sliced
- 1/2 cup blueberries
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp ginger
- 3 Tbsp corn starch
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
Egg Wash
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- To make the pie crust, put all the ingredients except the water in a food processor. Add water as needed, until the dough comes together. Split dough into 2 rounds and cover with plastic wrap.
- Chill for 30 minutes.
- For the filling:
Peel and slice your peaches. If your peaches are ripe, you can easily peel the peaches by blanching in boiling water, then immediately cooling in an ice bath. The peel should just slide right off. If they’re not quite ripe though, this may not work. In that case, just get a regular ‘ol peeler and peel away. - Put the peaches in a bowl, add the remaining ingredients and fold together until the brown sugar, ginger, and cornstarch is completely combined.
- Roll out your pie dough and cover the base of the pie pan. Trim the sides off the edges, and place your filling inside.
- Now, take the remaining pie dough and roll out. Take your star cookie cutters and cut out a few of each size and place randomly over pie.
- To make egg wash, whisk together the egg and water in a small bowl. Brush over the entire top of the crust.
- Chill pie for 20 minutes before baking.
- This pie will take about 2 hours to bake. I make a little border with some aluminum foil and place it around the edge of my pies for the first hour of the bake. This way, the edges of the pie crust won't burn while the center of the pie is still cooking.
- Cool, slice, and party! Happy 4th of July!
